The Leapfrog Group’s spring 2019 Hospital Safety Grade Report shows some progress in patient safety: an estimated 160,000 avoidable deaths nationwide, down from 205,000 in 2016. But 160,000 is a large number. “There’s still a lot of needless death and harm in American hospitals,” says Leah Binder, Leapfrog’s president and…

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Blood loss during labor and delivery (L&D) and surgical procedures can lead to serious complications that might be prevented with early detection; however, detection can be challenging. For example, clinicians have traditionally estimated blood loss visually—a subjective and often inaccurate process. Humans’ eyes simply aren’t good at making precise measurements,…

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It is not unusual for OR leaders to perform many different roles: Boss, mentor, coach, facilitator, or participant, to name some. Administrators in ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) likewise are tasked with many different responsibilities, often shifting among multiple roles within the same day. With the rapid growth in volume and…

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Editor's Note Academic medical center nurses have a high prevalence of insufficient sleep and symptoms of sleep disorders, finds this study presented June 10 at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, in San Antonio. A survey of 1,165 nurses at an academic medical center found that: 49%…

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Editor's Note After implementing an improved reporting system for disruptive behavior that included the ability to report positive behaviors, the number and length of reports increased in this study. Researchers compared reports in the Patient Safety Net (PSN) event reporting system (2010-2015) to the RL Solutions RL6 system (2015-2018), which…

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Editor's Note A new survey by the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and BDO Center for Healthcare Excellence & Innovation finds that clinical and business leaders value the innovation nurses bring to their organizations, just not at the C-suite level. Clinical and business leaders ranked skills, such as “the…

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Editor's Note In this study, postoperative delirium significantly increased the risk of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in older adults at 1 month after surgery, but there was no association at 2 and 6 months. Of 560 patients analyzed, 24% developed delirium during hospitalization. At 1 month after surgery, 47% had not…

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Editor's Note Because of the potential risk of selecting mutants carrying genes for cross-resistance to chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) and antibiotics, it is advisable to reserve the use of CHG for purposes other than hand hygiene, this study finds. A review of studies showed no significant difference in healthcare-associated infection rates…

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As part of a special series on artificial intelligence (AI), OR Manager is taking a deep dive into the many facets of this new technology and its impact on patient care. Part 1 of this introduction to the series (OR Manager, May 2019, 1, 7-11) defined several different types of…

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Though long fasting before a surgical procedure is tied to increased patient risks, the outdated guideline of NPO after midnight continues to be practiced by many healthcare organizations. In 1999, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) revised their fasting guidelines to clear liquids up to 2 hours before surgery and…

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